Africa-Press – Namibia.
The Independent Patriots for Change (IPC), the official opposition party, said they are watching, measuring and ready to step in with solutions whenever the Swapo administration falls short.
They made these remarks following President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah’s maiden state of the nation address (SONA) last Thursday. IPC president Panduleni Itula held his Sona on Friday.
During her address, highlighting her slogan ‘We are too few to be poor’, Nandi-Ndaitwah reiterated the theme ‘Unity in Diversity, Natural Resources’ Beneficiation and Youth Empowerment for Sustainable Development’. She pointed out that her administration’s focal point is to implement policies and programmes to create jobs for young people, and bring about tangible socio-economic development.
Itula said the challenges Namibia faces, including joblessness, poverty, inequality and corruption, demand urgent and brave action, and not empty talk.
“The time for lofty ideals and vague promises is over. It is now time for hard work and honest leadership. IPC pledges to continue championing the cause of ordinary Namibians… We will be constructive where possible, and uncompromising where necessary. Our loyalty is not to a party flag, but to the Namibian flag, and the republic for which it stands,” he said.
Lauding the President’s stride for transparency and monitoring within her administration, Itula called for more efforts to tighten the noose on corruption in the country. He said by refusing to condemn and prosecute corrupt individuals, the President is condoning the causes of poverty, hunger, lack of medicine in hospitals and lack of school infrastructure.
Itula claimed that Nandi-Ndaitwah served for years and presided over the Fishrot scandal, one of the gravest betrayals of the nation since independence.
“Billions were stolen from our fisheries, causing untold miseries to our fishermen and their families, allegedly to line the pockets of politicians and businessmen. As Mike Nghipunya testified under oath in the High Court, the Swapo Party, of which she (Nandi-Ndaitwah) is President, also benefitted hundreds of millions of dollars.
“By implication, Her Excellency also did benefit. Today, the President made only a passing mention of corruption, offering assurances but no new measures, such as disclosing exactly how much Swapp benefitted from that looting. That is shockingly unacceptable. The nation demands honesty in the presidency,” he asserted.
“Shockingly, when her Excellency was asked not to appoint the same director of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), she suggested that she is not the appointing authority, yet she is the initiator of the appointment. Parliament only appoints, better still, rubberstamps the nomination, subject to nomination by the President,” Itula added.IPC called for the strengthening of the ACC. Despite the enactment of the Whistleblower Protection Act, he
lamented its operationalisation.
In this regard, the party called for the establishment of specialist powers to protect whistleblowers through robust legislation, and to bar officials implicated in corrupt deals from holding office pending investigations. Itula urged accountability for past corruption beneficiaries, including the Swapo Party.
His view is that it is the duty of the judiciary to prosecute criminals, including the Swapo Party as beneficiaries of crime, without coercion from executives.
“We cannot draw a line under past scandals, as if they don’t matter. Doing so would be an insult to the victims of those crimes, the ordinary citizens,” Itula noted.
“IPC will not relent in demanding full accountability for Fishrot and other unresolved cases. Corruption isn’t a victimless issue. It steals classrooms from our children and medicines from our hospitals. We stand ready to support genuine anti-graft actions, but we will call out any lip service, double service or backpedalling,” he added.
Jobs
The party proposed a National Youth Service Corps that recruits young Namibians to work on housing construction, rural roads and technology labs, paying them a stipend, teaching skills and building the nation in the process. This is to tackle youth unemployment, which stands at a staggering 44.4%, and remains a national crisis. Itula said this is the radical shift Namibians yearn for, not simply rebranding old policies.
He stated that the President’s Sona did not deliver a clear roadmap to fulfil the promise of the 500 000 jobs made last year.
“During the campaign, Swapo promised 500 000 jobs in five years, with N$85 billion to be invested. Where is the detailed, costed plan to create these jobs? We cannot build hope on slogans alone,” Itula said.
To tackle the crisis, IPC assured it will continue pushing for concrete action.
Genocide
IPC called on the President to expedite the long-delayed acknowledgement of the Herero and Nama genocide with a settlement that the affected communities accept. In her Sona, the President recounted that in May 2021, Namibia and Germany agreed on the Joint Declaration to guide the process of acknowledgement of genocide, rendering of an apology, and payments of reparations by Germany.
“Beyond the 1.1 billion Euros, which Germany had said was a final quantum, Germany acceded to our demand to allocate additional resources. We have to proceed with the knowledge that we have made remarkable progress over the past years of negotiations. There is an opportunity for a solution to be found,” Nandi-Ndaitwah said.
Itula underscored that true unity is impossible while entire communities feel their trauma has not been justly addressed or included in their solutions.
Health
He said the President mentioned the goal of universal health access, without any timeline or concrete policy shifts.
The World Health Organisation revealed that Namibia’s maternal mortality ratio stood at 215 deaths per 100 000 live births in 2020. In addition, the neonatal mortality rate is at 19 per 1 000 live births, which is far too high for Namibia’s income level, Itula cited.He highlighted that rural clinics lack doctors and State hospitals suffer medicine stockouts, while elites often seek treatment abroad. “To lead by example, IPC suggests implementing a policy that government leaders must use public healthcare facilities,” he stated. Health minister Esperance Luvindao earlier this month conveyed Nandi-Ndaitwah’s message that government leaders will make use of public health facilities as of next year.
However, Itula stated that this will not improve health standards, as facilities are without doctors and adequate medicine.
“At a minimum, drastically increase funding for rural health outreach and fix the medical supply chain, removing corrupt tenders. The health of our people is the wealth of our nation. We cannot afford business as usual in this sector either,” he said.
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